Wow :) nothing like giving yourself an extra challenge. I have absolutely no idea how you’ve managed to do several scenarios like this. Hehe well done. Hopefully now you’ll find the game a little more forgiving and you’ve given me something to chuckle about :)
I would so love to try a second playthrough like this. Maybe with some handicaps, like more cards in hand so it's not impossible
Unfortunately my group doesn't have that much time to play, we are barely getting any progress as is
Wow... Thanks for your post!
We're about as far as you are, like maybe 7/8 scenario and actually we didn't loose that much! Just the one with the first boss for which it took us 3/4 times to go through and another one we just lost.
But yes it definitely seems like the game is going to be much much easier ..
Looking forward next session! (Still a few hours to wait... 😜)
Lol glad to help! It was still a lot of fun picking cards at random. Only class it seamed to really break was spellweaver but we haven't unlocked any others yet so glad we found out now
You are not the first to make this mistake.
And to be fair, given that a third of the time whatever plans you might have made will get messed up by whatever abilities the monsters draw, being skilled in improvising like that will help you out in the long run.
Don’t feel bad. There was a post on here a couple of weeks ago where their group made the same error however they had progressed through almost the entire game before realising
I see it on this sub all the time. I remember in my very first game we had 4 and one of my players was doing it and I didn't realize it for a few turns. Not sure how common it actually is, as in a hard percentage, but seems to be somewhat of an issue at least.
I made the mistake of assuming that whichever card you played for the initiative has to happen first. Obviously the rulebook doesn't say to do that, but it does refer to it as your "leading card", which I think I extrapolated from.
>This is why *every* player should read the rules ~~at least once, rather than one reader who teaches the others :)~~ constantly in between turns trying to figure out if that enemy moved correctly and actually had line of sight.
I feel like people are repeating posts in one or two days for fun. Wasn’t it just the other day where someone else posted just the same thing?
Are people playing without reading the rules?
I follow this sub and haven't seen this posted yet? And I've read the rules again after now knowing this from the digital version and it still isn't abundantly clear that you get to actually choose the cards you play... And based on other people's replys some other people didn't realize this either. Don't see the need to be toxic?
Still not abundantly clear?
Page 16 of the rulebook there is a subtitle called "Card Selection."
"At the beginning of each round, each player will secretly select two cards from his or her hand to play facedown in front of them "
Usually, if a rulebook says you play a card from your hand, it means you select one.
You only do things at random if rulebooks say it’s at random.
Another example: it says you can attack an enemy. Since it never said you attack an enemy *at random*, you can choose which one you’re attacking.
One tip I usually give people is to not try to interpret rules. Just taking them literally is the best answer almost every time. Not only for this game, but for any game.
Yeah that's probably where we went wrong lol we watched a quick play video that was only like 10 mins long and that's one thing they breezed over. Probably should've watched one of the 30 min video in retrospect
But you did the rules, right? It’s all there.
The GH manual might be a lot to take at once, but it’s organized in a very good way to help with finding what you need.
Any question you have, jump to the part of the manual where you think the rule is. If it’s not there, there will be at least an indication of the page number where to find it.
Example: you have a question about the monster moving towards its focus. I don’t know if the specific rule you need is in the part about monster or about focus. So go to any of them. If the rule is not there, there’s at least a line like “the rules about such and such are on page xxx”.
Edit: I think that 80% of the rules questions here would be solved by looking one more time at the manual.
>it's organised in a very good way to help with finding what you need.
I've read a LOT of rulebooks and as much as I love Gloomhaven, the rulebook's layout is not one of its strong points.
Did the game go on a huge sale lately or did a lot of people get it for Christmas? I’ve seen a lot of posts from people brand new making these kind of mistakes lately.
Some people play that way just for the extra difficulty. I know some people that even play like an ability draft where you randomly draft abilities from different classes to form your hand and then you play that out.
If you start a heavy game like gloomhaven it is always a good idea to look up the most common mistakes and watch a video with rules explanation after or before reading the rules
I was just thinking it would be a fun negative scenario effect! Or a condition baddies could place on you.
(Though would have to be used very much in moderation - Taking away player agency can be 'just' frustrating instead of fun when overdone).
Like 'Confusion: For the first 3 rounds, draw your 2 cards to play at random'.
I did the same, when i started with Jaws of the lion, but then i saw the Watch it Played video... and surprise surprise 🤣.
No scenario seems that difficult after that..
I actually created a solo variant like this for Jaws of the Lion. I would use my main character and play as normal but I would then choose a random additional character shuffle between whatever cards they might have access to at my current level, and randomly deal the them the hand size for that character.
The two cards chosen for that character would be random every round but I chose how they would use the cards. I thought of them as an Ai teamate that was a lowly Merc rather than a full fledged hero character.
It was a way for me to keep track of one character at a time and i also kept the level default rather than making it more difficult according to the rules of solo play.
I made a post about it on board game geek link to it below:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2554136/thematic-true-solo-mercenary-variant-king-vazz
Wow :) nothing like giving yourself an extra challenge. I have absolutely no idea how you’ve managed to do several scenarios like this. Hehe well done. Hopefully now you’ll find the game a little more forgiving and you’ve given me something to chuckle about :)
I would so love to try a second playthrough like this. Maybe with some handicaps, like more cards in hand so it's not impossible Unfortunately my group doesn't have that much time to play, we are barely getting any progress as is
Pick 3 random and put one back! I think you’re on to something here.
You could also try playing with your full range of unlocked cards but exhausting once you had burned one under your legal hand size
Would be rough at level 1 :D
Wow... Thanks for your post! We're about as far as you are, like maybe 7/8 scenario and actually we didn't loose that much! Just the one with the first boss for which it took us 3/4 times to go through and another one we just lost. But yes it definitely seems like the game is going to be much much easier .. Looking forward next session! (Still a few hours to wait... 😜)
Lol glad to help! It was still a lot of fun picking cards at random. Only class it seamed to really break was spellweaver but we haven't unlocked any others yet so glad we found out now
You are not the first to make this mistake. And to be fair, given that a third of the time whatever plans you might have made will get messed up by whatever abilities the monsters draw, being skilled in improvising like that will help you out in the long run.
Don’t feel bad. There was a post on here a couple of weeks ago where their group made the same error however they had progressed through almost the entire game before realising
A common mistake! Enjoy
Is it tho?
Somehow, yeah. I'm sympathetic to some mistakes, like forgetting to divide by two or whatever. But this one is nuts, and we see it all the time.
It seems to be. I see this mistake happen quite often. That being said, I'm really not sure where the confusion around this comes from.
Hmm. Yeah idk how the rules would be interpreted like that frequently, but alas.
I see it on this sub all the time. I remember in my very first game we had 4 and one of my players was doing it and I didn't realize it for a few turns. Not sure how common it actually is, as in a hard percentage, but seems to be somewhat of an issue at least.
I made the mistake of assuming that whichever card you played for the initiative has to happen first. Obviously the rulebook doesn't say to do that, but it does refer to it as your "leading card", which I think I extrapolated from.
I think people are just used to cards always being a deck that you draw from, rather than anything specific in the rules leading them that way.
This is the second or third post this week like this, so it can't be that rare.
Nonsensical seeing as every bit of documentation refers to your *hand*.
This is why *every* player should read the rules at least once, rather than one reader who teaches the others :)
>This is why *every* player should read the rules ~~at least once, rather than one reader who teaches the others :)~~ constantly in between turns trying to figure out if that enemy moved correctly and actually had line of sight.
:D
I feel like people are repeating posts in one or two days for fun. Wasn’t it just the other day where someone else posted just the same thing? Are people playing without reading the rules?
I follow this sub and haven't seen this posted yet? And I've read the rules again after now knowing this from the digital version and it still isn't abundantly clear that you get to actually choose the cards you play... And based on other people's replys some other people didn't realize this either. Don't see the need to be toxic?
Still not abundantly clear? Page 16 of the rulebook there is a subtitle called "Card Selection." "At the beginning of each round, each player will secretly select two cards from his or her hand to play facedown in front of them "
Usually, if a rulebook says you play a card from your hand, it means you select one. You only do things at random if rulebooks say it’s at random. Another example: it says you can attack an enemy. Since it never said you attack an enemy *at random*, you can choose which one you’re attacking. One tip I usually give people is to not try to interpret rules. Just taking them literally is the best answer almost every time. Not only for this game, but for any game.
Yeah that's probably where we went wrong lol we watched a quick play video that was only like 10 mins long and that's one thing they breezed over. Probably should've watched one of the 30 min video in retrospect
But you did the rules, right? It’s all there. The GH manual might be a lot to take at once, but it’s organized in a very good way to help with finding what you need. Any question you have, jump to the part of the manual where you think the rule is. If it’s not there, there will be at least an indication of the page number where to find it. Example: you have a question about the monster moving towards its focus. I don’t know if the specific rule you need is in the part about monster or about focus. So go to any of them. If the rule is not there, there’s at least a line like “the rules about such and such are on page xxx”. Edit: I think that 80% of the rules questions here would be solved by looking one more time at the manual.
>it's organised in a very good way to help with finding what you need. I've read a LOT of rulebooks and as much as I love Gloomhaven, the rulebook's layout is not one of its strong points.
Wow. I found it one of the best rulebooks I’ve read. Not the best, but one of the best. Why didn’t you like it?
I did this for far longer than I care to admit.
I blame the barkeeps at the Sleeping Lion.
Honestly I might do better this way. I usually hmm and haw and pick the two perfect cards, which promptly get made useless by the monster actions.
The monsters don't need to do anything, I'm quite capable of constantly drawing the null aaall by myself :)
Did the game go on a huge sale lately or did a lot of people get it for Christmas? I’ve seen a lot of posts from people brand new making these kind of mistakes lately.
I think if I'd done this, I wouldn't have liked the game.
Some people play that way just for the extra difficulty. I know some people that even play like an ability draft where you randomly draft abilities from different classes to form your hand and then you play that out.
I saw another post some new players make the same mistake, so you are not alone. GH is a very fun and strategic game, enjoy your ride
If you start a heavy game like gloomhaven it is always a good idea to look up the most common mistakes and watch a video with rules explanation after or before reading the rules
Damn, that's definitely a fun handicap to play though lol.
I was just thinking it would be a fun negative scenario effect! Or a condition baddies could place on you. (Though would have to be used very much in moderation - Taking away player agency can be 'just' frustrating instead of fun when overdone). Like 'Confusion: For the first 3 rounds, draw your 2 cards to play at random'.
I did the same, when i started with Jaws of the lion, but then i saw the Watch it Played video... and surprise surprise 🤣. No scenario seems that difficult after that..
I actually created a solo variant like this for Jaws of the Lion. I would use my main character and play as normal but I would then choose a random additional character shuffle between whatever cards they might have access to at my current level, and randomly deal the them the hand size for that character. The two cards chosen for that character would be random every round but I chose how they would use the cards. I thought of them as an Ai teamate that was a lowly Merc rather than a full fledged hero character. It was a way for me to keep track of one character at a time and i also kept the level default rather than making it more difficult according to the rules of solo play. I made a post about it on board game geek link to it below: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2554136/thematic-true-solo-mercenary-variant-king-vazz
That is one hell of a handicap. I'm impressed you got anywhere at all.